Ok, so I’m not actually getting tired of hops per se, but I am quite tired of the idea that every beer, of every style, must be hopped to the hilt in order to be of any worth. In fact, I have to admit that I was almost thankful for the hop shortage, hoping it would lead to a somewhat more discriminate use by brewers. As far as I can tell, it hasn’t. In fact, the other day I picked up a variety pack of Flying Fish, a fine local brewery, only to find that they too have jumped on the Hop head bandwagon, replacing one of the four beers with HopFish. As you can guess, it’s a hoppy IPA.

Nothing against HopFish, which is a good beer, but it seems to me that hoppy IPAs are going the way of heavily-oaked Chardonnays. Too much of a good thing can be, well, simply too much.

Post from: EveryJoe

Tired of Hops

In had a few beers the other night, but the one I remember enjoying most is the Nugget Nectar from Tröegs. It’s a very tasty beer, with a very slight sweetness – almost as though there’s a tiny hint of honey in it. Now, I’m not much for overly sweet beers, this was a very tasty beer. The folks at Tröegs label it an Imperial Amber Ale, other sites simply refer to it as an IPA, but it’s definitely not your standard IPA.

The beers from Tröegs are consistently good, so we’ll be planning a trip to the Harrisburg PA area soon to try some more.

image from Tröeg’s website.

Post from: EveryJoe

Nectar of the Gods

Last weekend I managed to finally make it to the new incarnation of the Dock Street brewpub, which is pretty pathetic considering I had planned to go when they first opened. For those who don’t know, Dock Street was a Philadelphia-based pioneer of micro-brewed beers back in the 80s, at one point vying with Sam Adams for tops in the market.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I expected a slightly too slick and slightly too large brewpub along the lines of a Triumph or the former Dock Street locations in Center City Philadelphia. This one has a much more down-to-earth and slightly gritty feel. Don’t get me wrong, the furnishings were clearly carefully picked out, and the brewing equipment gleams brightly in the corner of this spotlessly renovated old firehouse. Underneath it all, though, there’s an interesting and varied public enjoying beers and food from bartenders well-versed in the beers they are serving.

The beers, too, were quite well brewed. There were five of us, all seasoned beer drinkers , and we tried every beer on the list. It was easy to reach a consensus on the beers – our favorites by a long shot were the Rye IPA and the Imperial Outmeal Stout. Be forewarned, though, there was a one to two hour wait for a table, so if you’re hungry be prepared to sit at the bar or wait.

All things being equal, the new Dock Street’s new West Philadelphia brewpub was my favorite Dock Street brewpub experience yet.

image from malcolmxpark.org

Post from: EveryJoe

A Dock Street

The Friar drummed up another post for Hopfen und Malz, so here it is:

Less than a week ago, several members of my beer club bottled our first two batches of homebrew. I am well aware that when we taste it next month, the results may be less than spectacular. In fact, given the cost of ingredients (around $110) and the many, many hours of labor that went into it, I am quite sure that it would have been both more economical and better tasting to just go and buy four cases quality craft beer. But as I thought through the experience of brewing and bottling (we are making labels this weekend), I realized that the pay off for homebrewing is much more ineffable.

As I watched the yeast swirl in the carboy of IPA, I was struck by the realization that I was watching something living (Virginia Madsen’s poetic monologue on wine in Sideways comes to mind).

In fact this process of brewing became a spiritual experience for me as I came to understand that I was taking part in the miracle of creation. This is a two-fold joy in that we not only creating something new, unique and living, but also something that would be shared with only a few people, most of whom are people I know very well and care about. So, while the product of our “Church Basement Breweries” may be less than stellar from the standpoint of taste, I still look forward to that moment in February when in one moment we all share something unique… something that was created out of the bounty of the earth and came into being because of our divine impulse to both create and in turn, find joy in that creation. So, even if it the taste in only mediocre, it is still our creation. May we look upon it and know that it is good.

The Friar

image from savingadvice.com (who apparently differs with the Friar on the cost of brewing. For my part, I agree with him)

Post from: EveryJoe

And on the 8th day…

As a follow up to my post on beers of the World Series, our little beer group (more on that later) decided to tackle some Colorado brews this month. And so it was, with a selection of 13 different beers from 4 different breweries across the state.

As a group we were very impressed with the beers of Avery, particularly the big bottle products (such as the The Reverend Quadrupel and the Czar Imperial Stout). That said, the beers were uniformly good. The Old Jubilation, a winter ale, didn’t strike us as particularly wintery, and I found the Out of Bounds a bit thin for a stout, if still tasty.

I’ve said enough about Left Hand of late, but the consensus was that the Milk Stout is an excellent beer. The Polestar Pilsner wasn’t as clean and hoppy as I’d like, but the Dark Cover Brown Ale represented that style well. All of the Left Hand products have a certain smoothness to them which I enjoy in the ales, but not so much in the Pilsner.

Flying Dog also did well, although I’m not sure any of their beers stood out as much. It was interesting to note that they brew in Maryland as well as Colorado (go Orioles?!?), and some tasters who had tried the beers out West felt there was a difference. Maybe there is something to that Rocky Mountain water after all? The consensus seemed to be that the Snake Dog was the best of our batch, and the label artwork is certainly in a different class than most.

Great Divide was the least impressive of the lot, although in fairness the only beer we could drum up was the Samurai. I don’t know that an unfiltered rice beer was going to do well in this group of beers no matter what.

image from flyingdogales.com

Post from: EveryJoe

That Rocky Mountain water